The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1942, Qupperneq 276

274
JOHS. GRONTVED
Icelandic: Fjalldalafífill, Biskupshattur. Danish: Eng-Nellikerod. English: Water
Avens, Drooping Avens.
Fairly common in all parts in the lowland; not recorded with certainty from the
central highland. Here and there cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens (cp.
I.Ó., 1932, p. 33).
Life-form: H.
In fertile places, grassy slopes, heaths and copses, usually in rather damp soil.
Flor. VI—VIII; fr. mat. (VII—VIII).
Max. height: 50 cm; average: 25 cm.
Geogr. area: Am.: Newfoundland to Saskatchewan, southward to New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, Michigan and Colorado.—Eur. : Fær. ; E.S.I. ; temperate Eur., southward
to the southern Mediterranean mts.—Asia: Temperate regions, southward to Thian
Shan mts., and Sayansk mts.
265. Potentilla Anserina Linn., Sp. pl. ed. I (1753) p. 495.
K. & M., 1770, p. 208.—Babington, 1871, p. 302.—Gronlund, Isl. Fl., 1881,
p. 24.—Stefánsson, Fl. ísl., ed. 1, 1901, p. 133.—Ibid., ed. 2, 1924, p. 149.—
O. & Gr., 1934, p. 88.
Flora Dan. tab. 544.
Icelandic: Tágamura. Danish: Gaase-Potentil. English: Silver Weed.
Potentilla Anserina (coll.) in Iceland needs closer investigation, the herbarium
material at hand being rather sparse and incomplete; samples from only some twenty
localities are kept in H.H. and H.R.
Two distinct types or species are represented, viz. P. Anserina L. and P. Egedii
Wormskj., the first-named being the type most frequently met with, the other one
occurring here and there.
The distinguishing characters are given below (cp. also R. Nordhagen, N o r s k
Flora, 1940, pp. 307 and 312, and V. L. Komarov, Flora U R S S, X, 1941,
pp. 221 and 223) :
a. Leaves silky pubescent, glossy beneath. Calyx leaves obovate, cuspidate. Leaves
of epicalyx -f- 2—3-cleft, often exceeding the calyx. Achenes dorsally furrowed.
Pericap corky. P. Anserina L.
b. Leaves white pubescent or glabrous beneath, not glossy. Calyx leaves broadly
oval, with obtuse, rounded tips. Leaves of epicalyx narrow, usually entire, shorter
than the calyx. Achenes without dorsal furrow. Pericarp not corky. Plant smaller in
all parts than the preceding one. P. Egedii Wormskj.
P. Anserina L. is rather common in most parts in the lowland, especially by the
sea coast, and is very seldom found at a higher level.
Life-form: H.
In strand meadows, on sandy beaches, on borders of lakes, around hot springs, and
in inhabited places.
Flor. VI—VIII; fr. mat. VII—VIII.
Max. height: (flowering stalks) 8 cm; average: 5 cm.
Geogr. area : N. America.—S. Am.: Chile.—Greenl. : W. 60°35' and 60°53'.—Eur. :
Fær.; E.S.I. ; throughout Europe. Spitsbergen. Caucasus.—Asia: From W. Siberia
to Ussur and Kamchatka, Japan and China. Central As. southward to Mongolia,
Himalaya, N. Iran.—S. Australia.